Germany’s Merz says US friendship since war ‘probably over’ for now

🔮 The strikes, which also targeted a cargo vessel at sea near Odesa, follow Tuesday's bombardments with missiles and drones that knocked out power to swathes of Ukraine, a week before US-brokered peace talks were set to resume.

🔮 While Ramaswamy, 41, faced sharp backlash over his ad campaign, Trump continued to back the Republican candidate and accused the media of a coordinated attack to undermine his chances. US Vice-President J.D. Vance similarly defended his “good friend” Ramaswamy while on the campaign trail in Ohio. But Democrats swiftly criticised the ad, as did some Republicans including outgoing Ohio governor Mike DeWine, who could not run again due to term limits. In the ad by Ramaswamy’s campaign, Acton’s estranged mother – Donna Arthur – said her daughter has “lied her entire life” and should not be allowed to become governor. Acton issued a statement in October saying that she and her brother had “endured abuse, hunger, and neglect” as children. “Between the ages of 10 and 12, I was sexually abused by her husband, while my birth mother did nothing to protect me,” she said.

🔮 It was a striking Democratic gain in a state President Donald Trump carried by more than 16 percentage points in 2024 and where the race had initially been expected to be safely Republican.

🔮 The top Democrat in the US House of Representatives vowed on Nov 3 he would use his expected majority to go after corruption, in an election when alleged grift by President Donald Trump has been top of voters’ minds.

🔮 In an interview with Fox News, Trump said Democrats would send legislation he considered “insane” to his desk and that he would veto it.

🔮 Three-term Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott lost to Democratic state Representative Gina Hinojosa in a stunning upset that ends the Republican Party’s three-decade hold on the governor’s office, US media projected on Nov 3.

🔮 Talarico defeated the state’s Attorney-General Ken Paxton, a close ally of President Donald Trump who survived impeachment and years of scandal, NBC News and CBS News projected.

🔮 Democrat Kathy Hochul was projected to win a second full term as New York’s governor, defeating Republican Bruce Blakeman in a race polls showed her leading throughout the campaign.

🔮 Trump says he will accept results of US midterm elections Erica L. Green and Tyler Pager AI generated

🔮 But after initially saying Trump was “cautiously optimistic,” the mood music changed as Democrats looked increasingly likely to deal the president a bruising setback that could upend his last two years in power.